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There's a bit of unearned machismo showing its face here and its a dichotomy that shouldn't be strange to us in the west, steeped in narratives about how brave and courageous we are to self sacrifice ourselves for other people around the world - meanwhile when we engage we do it from 40 000 feet and with the least footprint possible and with an aversion to casualties that borders on the irrational.

The police I feel benefit from the same dichotomy the military does - here the cops are shooting suspects when its clear many other options could have been pursued and its partly because they have this crazy aversion to risk to themselves which makes it ok to use force in that way - but if thats true, then they shouldn't be able to call themselves brave and tell us all stories about the nobility of the Cop Mission.

If you're brave it means you put more risk on the table - risk to yourself - and that risk is put there in the service of other people you are helping.

You can be a useful coward.

If you don't put much risk up on the table then you're not really "brave" - even if the stated goal of your efforts is admirable.

I heard a wrapping upon my door.. At first I ignored it.
But it continued... So I got up, went downstairs to my door, and saw that it was a cop.

The cop asked me if so-and-so was present, I said no. He wasn't present. This didn't seem to satisfy the cop, and he asked to come in. I said no again. He then told me I could be charged with obstruction of justice. I repeated the true claim that no one else was in my house and that I was cordially enjoying sleep before he wrapped on my door.

He said he would have to write me up a notice for this obstruction, and he returned to his cruiser which was parked just in front of my house.

So I followed him to the cruiser to ask about this writ I was getting, and as soon as I stepped on the sidewalk I was arrested for public intoxication.

The $70 fine is not so bad, but being hauled away from your own bed because some cop has some idea is not pleasant, especially since the next 6 to 12 hours are spent in the drunk tank, where there are no clocks and no bedsheets.

That was the most unreasonable time I was put in the drunk tank. The other three were more or less justifiable though unnecessary. Not sure that it's any improvement, but now they put me in the hospital, often on a form 1. Difficult to explain these to HR....

But for all of you who are so quick to criticize the police, I'd be willing to bet that you wouldn't want to step into their shoes when they are out on patrol in the middle of the night.

Click to expand...

In the middle of the night is when the cops get me the most. I am not afraid to be out, and I don't pack heat. But in this country, the cops will aim for the lowest fruit, which is usually me taking a leak behind some corner.

When I've lived in far more dangerous countries than Canada, where there are no cops, I've felt completely safe. In those situations you can rely on your abilities as a human to not get into trouble.

Everywhere downtown Kitchener for example is safe. Even the "sketchy" areas. It's more dangerous to be a construction worker in KW than to be a cop. And one is rewarded very handsomely while the other is not.

this guy was having a schizophrenic episode.
he walked up to a neighbors house with a garden hose nozzle.
then, this happened.
NSFW.https://vid.me/TwXM
Fresno police Chief Jerry Dyer justified actions of his henchmen by stating he reviewed the video and it showed the officers giving Centeno multiple commands. The officers, he said, then used lethal force because Centeno was reaching for his waistband. What an absolute crock of shite.

In a follow up statement to the media, Chief Dyer blamed Centeno’s death on the fabricated “war on cops“:

There’s no question what’s happening across America. There’s an increase in aggressiveness toward officers. We’re seeing police officers that are being shot, officers that are being assassinated.

Certainly police officers are being very vigilant, but at the same time, I know that there’s a high level of scrutiny and criticism on the actions of officers. What we have seen this week is an increased level of aggressiveness toward officers, and when officers fear for their life, or for the life of someone else, they use deadly force, and unfortunately we’ve had three of those incidences occur in the last week. This is our sixth officer-involved shooting in the last year.
:O